"An Illustrated History of Whitman County, state of Washington." San Francisco:
W. H. Lever, 1901. p. 369.
HON. ANDERSON COX
One of the brightest stars in the galaxy of the eminent men of early days
is he whose name initiates this article. As a business man, as a legislator and
as one of the most active and potential forces in the ushering in of
civilization into the Pacific northwest, he has left upon this section
the impress of his vigorous personality and his life record forms part of the
history of the north Pacific states. Many are the public enterprises which his
mind planned, but it is as the founder of Whitman county that he is best known
locally.
Mr. Cox was born in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, on March 22, 1812. His
parents, John and Johanna (Swallow) Cox, were Quakers, and in his veins the
blood of the impulsive Irish and the sturdy Scotch were mingled together. He
grew to manhood in Ohio, receiving only limited educational advantages. In 1845
he removed from New London, Iowa, to the west, where destiny had great things in
store for him. He served several terms in the legislatures of both Oregon and
Washington territories, and was prominent in the affairs of Walla Walla county,
of which he became a resident in 1862, also in the founding and organization of
Whitman county and the city of Colfax in 1871. He was the first receiver of the
land office at Walla Walla, helped to survey the territorial road from Walla
Walla to Colfax, secured the location of another territorial road from Walla
Walla to Colville and in many other ways contributed inestimably to the progress
of the Inland Empire. At the time of his death, which occurred suddenly on
the road between Colfax and Waitsburg, he was taking the initial steps towards
the construction of a sawmill in the then youthful town of Colfax.
Mr. Cox was married in Indiana on August 9, 1836, to Miss Julia A.,
daughter of William and Sarah Walter, and they became the parents of ten
children: Lewis; Johanna, now Mrs. S. Cannon, now residents of Waitsburg;
Philip W., a resident of Whitman county; Jane, afterward Mrs. John B. Looney,
deceased; Matilda, now Mrs. William G. Preston, of Waitsburg; Malissa, the first
white girl born in Linn county, Oregon, now deceased; Mary, afterward Mrs. C. B.
King, deceased; Mida, wife of Hon. Thomas J. Smith, of Whitman county;
Butlar H.; Ira, deceased.
Lewis Cox, the oldest, was born on the Wabash, near Attica, Indiana, on May
9, 1837. He crossed the plains to Salem, Oregon, with his parents in 1845, came
to Walla Walla in 1861, bought in with his father in his sawmill on the Copper
near Waitsburg, and also took a homestead near that city. He made the lumber and
erected the first sawmill ever built in that vicinity. On August 29, 1858, he
married Caroline Bond, and they became parents of fourteen children: Albert,
deceased; Looney S., living with his uncle Philip; Birdie E., now wife of Dr.
Gritman, of Moscow, Idaho; Grant U. in British Columbia; Annie, now Mrs. J. L.
Harper, of Waitsburg; Frank L., deceased; Frederick O., in the dairy business at
Waitsburg; Anderson B. and Nathan B., twins, the former in the hardware business
in Lewiston, Idaho, the latter farming in Whitman county, near Endicott; Lula,
now Mrs. Samuel Ezra, residing in Seattle; Jennie and Tina, twins, the former
deputy postmaster at Waitsburg, the latter at home; Elmer Elworth, in the stock
business in Montana; and Grace, wife of Elmer Connick, of Walla Walla county.
Mr. Cox still owns an elegant home in Waitsburg.
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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in April 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.